True Miracle!

I had to write this down while it was fresh on my mind. Our doctor, who is a strong christian man, just called a little bit ago. After he told me what changes he was making with the girls today, he said, "let me ask you something. Who are your prayer warriors." I said, "well, I have to admit I don't even know them all." I did tell him about all our missionary friends, church family, our family's prayer chains, our friends... we had no idea really how many prayer warriors we had. He had told me before when Taylor had been sick that he knew we had some awesome prayer warriors. This is the part that brought tears to our eyes. After asking us that, he said he had never heard of a baby surviving a second bout with group b strep. I, of course, thanked him for not telling us that last week. He was going to do more research to see what he could find out about recurring strep b. We mentioned before that strep b can be fatal in infants, but hearing how fortunate she really is struck a chord on our heartstrings. Praise God Almighty!!We are overwhelmed with His mercy, grace and love. It shows us all the more that He is in complete control! We know God is already using these girls for His glory, which is what we prayed for their lives since before they were born. We know He has big plans in store for them. Taylor is doing much better, but still needs your prayers, since she's still not 100%. Another side effect of strep b can be brain damage, also. We can't know right now whether that's the case, but pray it's not. "Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." James 5:16- Thank you prayer warriors!

Doing Better!

Taylor and Kamryn are back in the same room once again! Taylor is doing remarkably better, but still not quite 100%. She weighed 5lbs 12ozs tonight. Just to show how much she was swollen, last night's weight was 6lbs 4ozs, believe it or not, and some of the swelling had already gone down by then. The nurse told us the other day that she was fortunate to be in the hospital already, because she got sick so quickly and Strep b has a very high infant mortality rate. We know God has been taking care of these little girls, because they have been very fortunate with some of the things they've faced. Taylor also got put back on the nasal canula and is doing well as of tonight on it. We're praying that by in the morning, our sweet Taylor will be acting more herself. Kamryn is still a little peanut at 4lbs 10ozs, but she continues to do really well, taking full bottles when she eats one every other feeding. We put a couple more pics on so you can see how big they're getting. Please pray for Taylor's health to get continually better, and for Kamryn to not have any setbacks. Thanks you so much for praying. God bless!

Still Swollen

Thank you all for your prayers for Taylor. She is still struggling and her poor little face is swollen so badly, but her vitals are showing she is doing better. Her blood sugar is back down to normal, and her heart rate has slowed down, also. Her vent settings are lower than in the beginning, and she is breathing more on her own again. They did change her antibiotics up a little today, because her blood culture came back positive for strep b, which is her second bout with that. Almost a month earlier to the day, she was sick with srep b. The doctor said that is something that usually doesn't reoccur, so they were surprised to see that. She's having to go through a lot right now, as they are drawing blood pretty often to check things and even had to give her more blood today. It has been pretty hard these last two days. I think worse on us than usual, because we had started letting our guard down, thinking everything bad was behind us. Tonight, we do feel better and are more at peace. Even though we have given both our girls to God, it doesn't make it easy to see them suffer, but God has given us comfort and strength during this time. Kamryn continues to do well and took a whole bottle for the first time this morning, so it's only a matter of time before she's able to come home. We pray Taylor can catch up quickly after she gets well, so we can all be united again. As always, God is good and we praise and thank Him for all of you who are faithful to pray for our family.

Update on Taylor

Taylor's blood culture came back positive for infection, it turned out to be MRSA staph. It started as a red place on her cheek and before we knew it, had made her really sick. This morning her whole face was swollen, so she didn't look good when we saw her. However, her white blood count looked much better this morning and her heart rate had gone down into the 150's to 160's. She also had to go down for a ct scan this afternoon, which was hard to go through and probably wore her out. The results came back showing cellulitis(sp?), or a swelling of the tissue, on her face, which is what was suspected, and which is among the best of possible scenarios. She is still pretty lethargic today and obviously not feeling well, but hopefully the antibiotics are working and we'll see results soon. Even if they aren't, we know your prayers are, so thanks again so much.

Praises and Prayer Requests

We do have praises. The girls have both tried bottle feeding and did well with it. Kamryn is taking two bottles a day right now, and Taylor was taking one a day. Kamryn also took her own nasal canula off the other day, and they kept it off because she did so well. She is now requiring no breathing help! Praise the Lord!
The reason I say Taylor was taking one a day, is because she got sick suddenly today. She was fine this morning, then all the sudden this afternoon her heart rate jumped over 200, she was lethargic, and she started having spells of apnea. A red spot on her cheek started swelling, so the Dr. suspected infection in her cheek, he called it cellulitis(sp?). By later this afternoon, she had to have her breathing tube put back in and was put back into the critical unit, where they were when they were first born. She's on strong antibiotics and received blood today, so hopefully she will improve soon. She went down so quickly it was scary. Please keep her in your prayers, as well as Kamryn, who is without her sis again. Pray she can stay well, also. Thanks so much to all of you for your encouraging comments and prayers.

Together Again

Together for the first time since they were born, Kamryn and Taylor are now in the same crib! It's pretty sweet. They just lay there and look at each other. The nurse said they were fussy at one point, and she turned them toward each other, and when they looked at each other they just both calmed down. She got a picture of them holding hands today. Can't wait to see that developed. Anyway, They are both over 4 pounds now, Kamryn at 4lbs 2ozs and Taylor at 4lbs 14ozs. Taylor's MRI went okay the other day. She had a pretty hard time with it, as they are loud and the room is freezing. It took over two hours from the time they took her, so she was worn out. The report said that everything basically looks the same as what they had seen from the ultrasounds. The good news is that it's not worse. Of course, we hope to see progress, but hopefully that will happen with time. Please continue to pray for that. Everything definitely could have been a lot worse, so we've already seen God's hand in this, just as in so many other ways. Thanks so much for all your prayers! Kamryn is doing well on the nasal canula, and they have turned down her air flow twice already. Taylor is doing well, also, but is progressing on her own schedule, as always. Hopefully both of them will be able to try bottle feeding soon. Pray they will catch on to that quickly, because the sooner they can do that, the sooner they can come home! Thanks again to each of you for being a part of their lives in such a special way by praying!

Awesome Praises!

Kamryn looking at mom

Taylor holding my ring- remember when it was on her arm when she was born?

Taylor putting up her dukes

Mom enjoying a little Kamryn time


Dad and Taylor dancing

Kamryn is now also on the Canula and doing great. She's requiring only room air levels of oxygen and breathing well. Pray she continues on this good tract. She has also finally started gaining weight, after staying the same and even losing a few ounces, and is now 3lbs 14 ozs. Taylor has continued to gain weight, now at 4 1/2 lbs, and is also continuing to do great on the canula. She is requiring only a little oxygen, also. Taylor is also in an open crib, and should start trying a bottle by the end of next week. Kamryn will hopefully follow soon after on these milestones. We are blessed to have my (Ted) parents in town visiting, also. We had a great time tonight with the girls. We were able to hold them to help calm them down since they were restless. I was kind of dancing a little with Taylor and as I was doing so, we had some music on in the background, and Steven Curtis Chapman's song, "I will dance with Cinderella" came on. It was pretty special. Kerri had a great time with Kamryn, and we caught a really cute picture (above) of her just enjoying her mom, and vice versa. Their eye exams this past week were good, still showing immature eyes, but there is no damage as of yet. Pray this will continue to be the case. Also pray that both have good results from their head scans on Monday. Taylor will have an MRI, and Kamryn will have another ultrasound. Please also continue to pray for them to stay healthy and well.